Blu-ray Sales: Bridesmaids Highlight of Banner Week

October 5th, 2011

Bridesmaids led the way on the Blu-ray sales chart, just as it did on the DVD sales chart. It was by far the best new release selling 593,000 units and generating $13.30 million in revenue. Its opening week Blu-ray ratio was 30%, which is very high for this type of release and further proof Blu-ray is taking over from DVD.
During its first full week of release, Star Wars: The Complete Saga remained in second place with 401,000 units for the week and 916,000 units in total. With a total revenue of $77.15 million, it is the third best selling Blu-ray release behind Avatar and Inception. Thor fell to third place with 214,000 units / $6.42 million units for the week and 1.01 million units / $28.42 million after two. Dumbo debuted in fourth place with 193,000 units / $4.47 million. Its opening Blu-ray average was nearly 60%, but it is safe to call this a Blu-ray catalog release, and not a concurrent release, so that ratio is misleading. X-Men: First Class rounded out the top five with 121,000 units / $2.83 million for the week and 1.33 million units / $32.23 million after three.

Spooky Buddies just missed the top five with 92,000 units / $1.84 million for an opening Blu-ray ratio of 20%. This is a good start for a live action kids movie, especially a direct-to-DVD release. Modern Family: Season Two earned tenth place with 16,000 units / $558,000 for an opening Blu-ray ratio of 14%, which is good for a TV on DVD release. The first season of Hawaii Five-0 was released on Blu-ray as a Best Buy exclusive, selling 4,000 units and generating $219,000, which was enough for 22nd place. Its opening week Blu-ray ration was 15%, which is surprisingly high for an exclusive.

Overall, Blu-ray sales were a little weaker this week down 10% in terms of units and 22% in terms of revenue, but this can be explained by the weaker slate of Blu-ray releases this week. Compared to last year, Blu-ray continued to see astonishing growth, up 83% in terms of units and 163% in terms of dollars. DVD sales were mixed compared to last week (more units down, but less revenue generated) but solidly down compared to last year. The Blu-ray ratio held strong at 38% in terms of units and an excellent 56% in terms of revenue.

On the other hand, next week might be a little less rosy in terms of growth. Granted, Transformers: Dark of the Moon comes out and it was one of the biggest hits of the summer, but its the only major release and it's coming out on Friday. Also, this week last year was the start of the Christmas shopping season, so for the first time in many weeks, there's competition in the year-over-year comparison.